Quick impressions, GA June 2015 v GA June 2016.

[AdoraBelle]

1. Food is as good or better than I remember (FG and LE Bistro). Service at LB was MILES better than last year. Really enjoyed myself. I also did a buffet walk through at dinner. Saw some pork chops and some carved meat that looked really good.

 

2. Ship still feels clean, but tiny signs of wear beginning to appear. Examples: dressing room door in spa is half stuck and hard to open/close (slider), many non functional electronic locks on spa lockers, my TV won't turn on (yes I've reported it), loose/missing cup holders in studio cabin.

 

3. Internet is still exactly the same.

 

4. Was there always a "Fat Cats"? There is one now.

 

5. The Dailies seem to be missing the "heart" they had last year. Mostly sales inserts and then tabular info. None of the stuff about "The happy ship" and the cute little tags like "An evening of delight". I had a much harder time drilling down to interesting info/activities, but I had a long day and my brain wasn't running at full capacity.

 

6. Slightly more rude people this year over last (and more kids). People not letting people off the elevator, front row rushing out of the theater muster drill after explicitly told not to, people letting little kids into the Studio lounge (I saw two eight year olds come in, grab several baked goods in both hands, then put some of them back, yeeech).

 

7. I see fewer crew with spray bottles (or they are chatting with coworkers and ignoring people entering buffet) BUT I see more people voluntarily using the sanitizer gel. Progress?

 

8. People were monopolizing my favorite slot machines. I demand compensation.

 

9. There's a new gemstone in town, trying to knock Tanzanite off the throne. Can't remember the name and already threw away the sales flyer. Unobtainium? Zarkonite? Someone will know what I mean.

 

10. Seeing fewer room stewards about in the halls, and my luggage and turndown were quite late. I know every cruise is different and neither of these things were a big deal, but were there staff cutbacks? Oh, no towel animals. I got them every night last year. Don't need them, but I liked having the extra towels to squeeze-dry my hand washed clothing. Only mentioning it because I know some people do care.

 

Overall I am very happy to be back on the ship. It was my first cruise ever, and it was strange how much it felt like "coming home".

 

Incidentally, once I got the dang iConcierge app working, I had a message saying I missed muster drill and I have to attend the makeup. I most certainly did not and they scanned my card. Any chances that a quick stop at GS will clear this up, or am I doomed to sit through it again?

Edited June 6, 2016 by AdoraBelle

[Casey30043]

We just got off this morning. There were not hoards of kids on our sailing but there were quite a few. There were A LOT of rude people pushing and shoving on and off the elevators. Fat Cats was broadway experience or something previously(some signage is still up and some is taped over). Our luggage was to our room by 4 or so. And we did not have towel animals the first night but monday through friday nights we did. We only saw stewards in the mornings and evenings. The spray bottle crew was spraying like always last week.

[LrgPizza]

The Grammy Experience must have changed to Fat Cats.

[Casey30043]

The Grammy Experience must have changed to Fat Cats.

 

thats it! 12 hours on the road and my mind is not quite all there yet.

[BirdTravels]

Welcome home to the Getaway. Sounded like fun!

[AdoraBelle]

Updates:

 

I'm not sure if I'm just imagining it, but I feel like the food game has been stepped up a bit. Most offerings are the same on paper, but I'm having better luck finding stuff that looks and tastes good. Even little things like the buffet Mac n cheese which was tasteless mush last time, is now baked and cheesier. FG hours were expanded compared to last year, and I always saw people there. The caramel sauce at the buffet is deadly. Put it on anything. Bacon is no longer cooked to the point of shattering. Got a beautiful piece of prime rib at o'sheehan's tonight. Etc etc.

 

Internet is so bad this trip I was able to obtain a partial refund. (I don't mean slow, I mean the login portal itself was down.) When it did work, it dropped constantly. Basic functionality like iMessages or loading Google was very broken. If you NEED to be connected and are sailing GA soon, plan in advance. Download your music and ebooks ahead of time. Really, I couldn't even get a single kindle book to download. Everyone had their phones out at Costa Maya, desperately soaking up the free wifi.

 

OH: they also seem to have removed the option to kick off the other device if your account shows up online. So you have to remember which device is logged in and then go to logout.com (with your VPN disabled) to log it out.

 

Thermal suite is still amazing.

 

I'm sorry, but the guy doing the billy Joel tribute can't sing very well. Or maybe he's sick this week.

 

No sewage smell issues this year. (Had a few last year, mostly in public restrooms.)

 

Somewhat more screaming/running little kids this year. (Last year I went third week of June, if that matters.) But I do believe some "priced out" DCL folks are making their way over.

 

Burn the Floor seems to have a few new dancers. (And wow, so many rude people come and go throughout the entire show. If you can't commit to sixty minutes or show up earlier than 15 minutes before the end of the show, just do something else. It's rude to the performers and the other attendees to traipse in and out, or to walk halfway down the aisle and stand there with your mouth hanging open while you decide if you're going to stay. It's a production number, not a juggler on the sidewalk.)

 

Those GA theater seas are getting well worn, and that cross bar is painful.

 

Tea bags are now Lipton, rather than that ... Other brand they had last year. (No complaints, you can at least taste the Lipton.)

 

Overall a good trip, and for the first time on any of my cruises, I bought future cruise deposits.

Edited June 12, 2016 by AdoraBelle

[scottbame]

I've enjoyed reading AdoraBelle's reviews and comments as I got ready for our NCL cruise. I just got off the boat as well and thought I'd add a few of my thoughts to what she wrote rather than add an entire new thread with my review. The ship was great overall and I would recommend it to anyone. I don't cruise an awful lot, but I would have no problem going back again.

 

1. Food is as good or better than I remember.

 

I enjoyed the food. I didn't pay for any specialty restaurants but found the main dining rooms pretty good. The buffet left me wanting more a few times, but the MDR were very good. I had dinner at Shanghai's one night and was a little disappointed. I ate at O'Sheehan's for dinner one night and for one lunch. The food was good but the service here both times was the slowest and poorest of our experiences. I am pretty easy going and it didn't bother me a lot, but it may bother others. The place was not busy both times we ate and it still took almost an hour from seating to get our food. We could be in and out of the MDR in under an hour.

 

5. The Dailies seem to be missing the "heart" they had last year. Mostly sales inserts and then tabular info. None of the stuff about "The happy ship" and the cute little tags like "An evening of delight". I had a much harder time drilling down to interesting info/activities, but I had a long day and my brain wasn't running at full capacity.

 

My first time on Norwegian, but I found the Dailies missing a lot of the "pop" and substance I had on Carnival. I was never bored, because we'd go lay on the sun deck, but there was nothing notable about the Dailies.

 

6. Slightly more rude people this year over last (and more kids). People not letting people off the elevator, front row rushing out of the theater muster drill after explicitly told not to, people letting little kids into the Studio lounge (I saw two eight year olds come in, grab several baked goods in both hands, then put some of them back, yeeech).

 

There were a significant amount of kids. I didn't have notable issues, but they were there. The muster drill exit was a joke, as AdoraBelle notes. I also agree with the elevators. If you want to get on the elevator, it usually helps to let the other people get off that elevator first so that you can get on.

 

9. There's a new gemstone in town, trying to knock Tanzanite off the throne. Can't remember the name and already threw away the sales flyer. Unobtainium? Zarkonite? Someone will know what I mean.

 

Zultanite. I don't get the appeal.

[AdoraBelle]

Thanks for the feedback, Scott.

 

I actually got a very long survey from NCL today about the cruise. It had multiple questions about cruise critic, heh. (Do you know of it, do you read it, do you post reviews.)

 

I did the whole survey honestly, and at the end begged them not to nuke Flamingo Grill.